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Longtime lurker on these forums. This winter I was looking around some parts I had laying around trying to decide to sell them or use them to build something. I saw Stradali's ad in Bicycling magazine advertising a 13lb road bike using what is almost certainly an open mold Chinese frame from Dengfu or something similar. Nothing wrong with that, I'm sure it's a good product. But, it got me wondering what it would cost to build that bike with my leftover bits + (mostly) generic Chinese parts, used ebay bits and the like. I had no plans for this bike besides the hobby aspect of actually tinkering with it a bit here and there, trying to keep the budget under $1800 for all parts that I did not own. The goal weight was under 6kg and I just barely made it. One requirement was SPD-SL pedals because I have those on other bikes and I wasn't about to get a separate pair of shoes to attach a different cleat system.

Here is the build, using largely what I've learned on this forum (thanks!) and what was within budget.

The parts I already owned included the Reynolds tubular wheels with tires, skewers (the weight listed below is for all of it + glue), Red 10 speed crankset, Red 11 speed 11-28 cassette, bottle cage, DA9000 pedals and a few Ti bolts.

Here is the build

And the finished product. Still playing with the fit so I will likely trim a bit more off the fork once it is dialed in.

Additional thoughts for anyone else that wants to try a similar build:1. I'm very pleased with the Dengfu R-077. I've built up a couple of Chinese open mold frames over the years, one of which I still use as a rain bike and the quality of the frame and supplied bits, pre-routed housing liners and finish have constantly been improving. The weight was also exactly as advertised.2. The combined carbon bar/stem from hyadastek (ebay) is a Bontrager knockoff complete with the single bolt in front for a Blendr mount. For now, I'm just using an old school handlebar mount that came with my Garmin.3. Routing Alligator cables with a full-length liner on an internal cabled frame is a pain. But, once it is set up right, it works great. Patience is the key word here! Do NOT cut the cable to length until you are SURE everything is working well, there is no binding in the alloy external housing.4. Could probably shave another 100 grams with lighter chainrings, replacing either the entire post with something lighter or at least the seatpost bolts with Ti. Since I met the sub 6kg target this can wait.5. I Would really like to have added a single sided power meter (Stages or 4iiii or similar) but I had the 10 speed Red crank already and there is no crankarm powermeter solution for it. It's BB30 so Rival won't work, a Stages for Red22 is BB30 but the spindle is on the other side and 4iiii has no fitment for carbon, at least not yet. 6. The KCNC C7 brakes are not as bad as I expected. Using Williams blue pads which look like the stock Reynolds blue pads I had for these wheels on another bike. It's not a hydraulic disk, but they modulate fine and will lock the rear wheel no problem.7. Yes, I am using a 10 speed SRAM Red crank with 10 speed chainrings on an 11 speed drivetrain. I'm sure the drivetrain gods do not approve but it shifts fine and I will eventually get those lighter chainrings that are 11 speed approved.7. How does it ride? Hey, I never said I was actually going to ride it OK, in all seriousness, I was a bit hesitant to just throw a can of fix-a-flat in my jersey and hit a 50mph descent given all the (light+cheap) parts so all it has done so far are a few rollers to run errands. Anyway, it hasn't fallen apart yet. It handles great, very tossable but not terribly comfy given the complete lack of padding in the saddle. The high tpi tubulars do help road feel I guess. Let's just say I'm not confident enough in this rig to be taking a solo cross country unsupported tour on it.